Overseas travel spending hits new high in June

Overseas travel spending soared to a record high in June as South Koreans continued to flock to foreign destinations despite a prolonged slump in domestic demand, central bank data showed Wednesday.

Overseas travel spending totaled US$1.7 billion in June, growing 23.3 percent from the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea. The figure does not cover traveling for study purposes.

The latest data, which is part of the current account, comes only two months after overseas travel spending set a record of $1.7 billion in April.

Such spending for the April-June period reached $5 billion, also hitting a record quarterly high since the third quarter of last year.

The data comes as an increasing number of South Koreans are going abroad for holidays. The number of South Koreans who traveled abroad reached 1.3 million last month, growing 4 percent from a year earlier.

The amount each person spent on average rose 18.6 percent to $1,340 over the cited period, partly due to a strengthening won.

South Korea's travel account logged a deficit of $482.2 million last month. The amount includes both trips for vacation and studying. (Yonhap)